Carole Lesley (27 May 1935 – 28 February 1974) was a British actress who had a short but significant career as a "blonde bombshell".[1]
She was born Maureen Rippingale in Chelmsford, Essex, but ran away from home at the age of 16, "aiming to become a star".[2]
She starred in several films in the late 1950s and early 1960s,[1] including the 1957 film Woman in a Dressing Gown, which won the 1958 Golden Globe Award for Best English-Language Foreign Film.[3] She also appeared in No Trees in the Street, These Dangerous Years, Doctor in Love, Operation Bullshine and What a Whopper, and played Helen of Troy in a television play.[4][5]
However, Associated decided to end her contract, which devastated her and she disappeared from the public eye. She subsequently lived in a semi-detached house overlooking New Barnet station in north London, but by 1973 was described as "a deeply depressed, once beautiful woman, still haunted by a glamorous past".[5]
She was found dead by her husband Michael Dalling in their New Barnet home on 28 February 1974.[6] At her inquest it was determined that she had died of a drug overdose and that she had "killed herself".[7]
^ ab"Carole Lesley". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017.
^"Who'd be a movie star? They are little more than pampered, tethered goats". The Guardian. 20 January 2012.
^"Woman in a Dressing Gown".
^"Carole Lesley - Movies and Filmography - AllMovie".
^ ab"Carole Lesley and the Illusion of Glamour". 9 July 2012.
^"'Doctor in Love' actress found dead". Birmingham Daily Post. No. 35970. 2 March 1974. p. 44. Retrieved 23 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Tragedy of ex-film girl". Daily Mirror. No. 21826. 22 March 1974. p. 13. Retrieved 23 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
CaroleLesley (27 May 1935 – 28 February 1974) was a British actress who had a short but significant career as a "blonde bombshell". She was born Maureen...
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the home of his former girlfriend, either in a suicide or a murder. CaroleLesley (born Maureen Rippingale), 38, English actress, committed suicide by...
Australia Costume Designer An American in Paris Some Like It Hot 28 CaroleLesley 38 UK Actress Woman in a Dressing Gown Three on a Spree March 3 Barbara...
Dawn Liz Fraser as Leonora Virginia Maskell as Dr. Nicola Barrington CaroleLesley as Kitten Strudwick Reginald Beckwith as Wildewinde Nicholas Phipps...
produced by Gordon Scott for ABPC. It stars Ronald Fraser, Paul Massie, CaroleLesley and Dennis Price. The film is largely set in Wandsworth prison and is...
actor. Mike Edmonds (born 1944), actor. Joe Thomas (born 1983), actor. CaroleLesley (1935–1974), actress. Sir Grayson Perry (born 1960), contemporary artist...
Finn (adult) Josephine Stewart as Una (adult) Hugh Griffith as Packman CaroleLesley as Una (Child) Christoper Capon as Finn (child) Stanley Jay as Bo'sun...
Austrian actor May 26 – Sheila Steafel, British actress (died 2019) May 27 CaroleLesley, English actress (died 1974) Lee Meriwether, American beauty queen and...
Whopper, directed by Gilbert Gunn, starring Adam Faith, Sidney James, CaroleLesley and Terence Longdon – (U.K.) When the Trees Were Tall (Kogda derevya...
Patricia Dainton Thriller Three on a Spree Sidney J. Furie Jack Watling, CaroleLesley, Renée Houston Comedy Ticket to Paradise Francis Searle Emrys Jones...
musical Everest Pictures Herbert Wilcox George Baker, Frankie Vaughan, CaroleLesley, Thora Hird, Kenneth Cope,p David Lodge, John Le Mesurier The Traitor...
Kipper Joan Miller as Jess Liam Redmond as Bill David Hemmings as Kenny CaroleLesley as Lova Lily Kann as Mrs Jacobson Lloyd Lamble as Superintendent Campbell...
love of and aptitude for music to young Harvey and his younger sister, CaroleLesley (born in 1950). Harvey recalls the fun he had at the age of ten when...
the babies from germs, potential kidnappers and exploitation. Born: CaroleLesley, actress, in Chelmsford, England (d. 1974); Lee Merriwether, beauty...
services to People with Disabilities and the community in Birmingham. CaroleLesley Burgoyne, Strategic Director for People, Plymouth City Council. For...
Operation Bullshine, alongside stars Donald Sinden, Barbara Murray and CaroleLesley, but never made another film. Grinham was inducted into the International...
Form College, Stockport. For services to local and national Education. CaroleLesley, Mrs Souter, Chief Executive, National Heritage Memorial Fund and Heritage...
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